


A Promise Made

by AngelicSentinel



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dimension Travel, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 19:54:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11790315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelicSentinel/pseuds/AngelicSentinel
Summary: Shinichi, a Knight of Beika, means to go on his Proving in order to prove himself worthy of adulthood. A dragon terrorizing the kingdom makes it more difficult than it needs to be. But things are not what they seem, and in order to be truly successful on his quest, he will have to find out the truth of the mystery behind it all.





	A Promise Made

**Author's Note:**

> **OTP Prompt 49** : I found you in another universe. From [this prompt list](https://angelicsentinel.tumblr.com/post/177828528843/fifty-i-found-you-otp-prompts)

This is how it ends and begins; a gem, glittering in the moonlight. Stars twinkling like diamonds, hidden in the great red glow. Brilliant cascading white, sweeping across the sky.

 

A sky that's _falling_ ,

falling,

falling

The tail of a comet, bright and sparkling, arching overhead, leaving an afterglow.

 

The bright lights of a cityscape, a dive off a roof, the sound of thunder.

 

A hand reaching out, brushing the fingertips of another as they fall terminal

 

A desperate promise: “I'll find you! Wait for me!”

 

Nothing.

 

* * *

 

In a certain kingdom, uncertain knights of a certain age are sent on a series of quests called the Proving in order to show their worth to king and country.

Shinichi of the noble Kudō clan is at that age, and his stomach curls with foreboding as he packs the last of his things for the long journey ahead.

“Ah, Shinichi!” He raises his head. It’s one of his fellow knights, dressed in brigandine and gambeson and full mail: hauberk and aventail and chausses with no coif or helm so he can see her face clearly.

“Ran? What are you doing here?” he asks, turning. Ran is still flushed from her usual morning spar with Masumi, her hair tied back in a fierce braid, dark bruise marring the side of one cheek. She is a noble of the Mōri clan and the heir to the Beika duchy, in line to inherit the throne, making her ostensibly a princess. Before she and Shinichi had come to stay at the castle for knight training their estates had been neighboring, and as such they’d been raised together, joining the Gauntlet at the same age and going through the Trials together. Though he has reached full knighthood and received his Name, as has she, it is the Proving that declares him an adult.

“Hoping to catch you before you left.” She tilts her head “You’re going to be wearing your family plate, aren’t you?” she asks.

Shinichi casts a glance at the corner at the armor stand. Steel so dark it looks blue gleams back at him, edged in gold, a shock white comb on the helm. “I am.”

“Kudō Shinichi, The Black Knight,” she says, calling him by his full title. “Such a Name hasn’t been seen in over a century. Are you sure you can handle it?” she asks, teasing.

Like he needs the reminder. For all Ran is a princess, he is the son of the Night “Baron” as her father is all too keen on constantly reminding him, and quite below her in regards to the peerage. Not that it matters to King Suzuki Shiro, his queen Tomoko, or his heir apparent Princess Sonoko (who became so after the marriage of the elder Princess Ayako to the Prince of the Kingdom by the Sea, Tomizawa Yūzō), who mingle with the small folk freely, who see no difference between baron and viscount, duke or earl or marquess. Or Ran herself. But it does matter to her father.

Still, his Proving has come at a critical time.

A dragon has been sighted for the first time in half a millennium. Not only that, it has absconded with the princess of the neighboring kingdom, and has been stealing livestock and terrorizing villages, burning them to the ground.

Dragon slaying. Shinichi lets out a breath. It’s been so long since one was sighted all he has to help him are the old books he’s found in the castle library.

The Proving has no set task. Rather, it is the sojourner’s responsibility to find something of worth to bring back to their kingdom, whether it be knowledge, power, prestige, alliances. However, it isn’t unusual for a “suggestion” to be made, and Shinichi is duty-bound to adhere to the word of his betters.

Though the gentle King Suzuki would never make it an order, not to Shinichi, he is still tasked with slaying it. The title of Black Knight is only given to those meant to slay dragons.

The blood of a dragon is hot enough to boil flesh, and darker than the heart of the most evilest of men. Only the Kudō family armor has been tempered with magic and can withstand both it and the heart of the flame itself. Even if anyone else did slay the dragon, if the finishing blow weren’t from a distance, they would boil alive in the metal of their plate. And dragons have precious few weak points.

But all he says out loud in response to Ran’s teasing is, “Of course I can handle it. What do you take me for?”

“Here then. Let’s get you dressed for your departure ceremony,” she says, dragging him towards the armor stand.

“I don’t need you to be my squire, Ran. I can put it on just fine by myself.” 

“Nonsense. That’s just like you, refusing to admit when you need help,” Ran says, putting her hands on her hips. So Shinichi lets her pull him anyway, and she begins dressing him with a deft hand.

“You’ll be going on your own Proving soon enough,” he says, irritated. “We have to do it alone. You can’t tag along. No one can. That’s the whole point of calling it a ‘Proving’”

“I’m trying to figure out how you plan on defeating a dragon when you have trouble just putting on your armor alone.”

“Very carefully,” he says. It's slower to do it alone, but having a squire was more a matter of prestige. He can’t delay his journey to let his squire young Kojima come back from liberty anyway; Marquess Hattori and his entourage will be here at any moment, determined to make his leaving a grand party. Knowing Heiji as he does, he will probably want to go with him.

Shinichi can’t have that. As per Proving tradition, the dragon is his responsibility and his alone, and any deaths will be on his conscience.

His horse Shin is the fastest steed in Tokyo, and rumors have it that the dragon dens but a sennight’s ride away in the foothills. An estate and a few small villages are between here and there, and Shinichi plans on asking the locals and the local lord for help. There is one last village but half a day’s ride from where the dragon was last rumored to be seen, and if he really needs it, he’ll have someone help him into his armor there.

Ran rolls her eyes but lets it go, and they load his saddlebags onto Shin. He's not responsible for the name; Princess Sonoko thought it was a funny joke, given the play on the characters for his name, and Ran went along with it. 

Then it’s time to go.

It is a small party that sees him off, mostly consisting of Ran and Masumi and the rest of his fellow Knights and the Royal family and their guards, save for Duke Masuyama Kenzō, who is conspicuously absent. The whole party is grim, even Masumi with her usual cheer is somewhat subdued. Sonoko gives him a small favor, a dull black pearl brooch for protection. Ran gives him a handkerchief embroidered with sakura for a safe journey, and Masumi a small wooden carving of a bear edged in silver.

Before Shinichi leaves, the Lady Haibara, still clothed in her alchemical apron and heavy veil, presses a small packet into his hand. “You use this for emergencies only,” she says, her voice stern.

Shinichi looks down at the luminescent packet in his hand. “What is it?”

“A trump card if the dragon becomes too difficult. It is meant not for him, but for you. Upend it on the crown of your head.” She turns back once, looking over her shoulder. “And beware the evils of drink,” she says.

Shinichi doesn’t understand, but he pockets it anyway. A little extra help can’t hurt, even if he’s a little wary of the mysterious Lady who appeared out of nowhere and demanded to be the Court Alchemist, even though their Machinist Agasa suited them just fine. He also never saw her as one in favor of temperance, either.

He travels quickly; half a week later and he’s bedding down with Lord Hakuba’s knights for the night, only a few more leagues to go. He can see the destruction from here; ash sits heavy in the sky, blanketing farmland.

A servant wakes him up in the middle of the night. “The Lord wishes to see you, sir.”

Intrigued, Shinichi can’t help but follow them.

So Shinichi heads to the court, casting his eyes on the white horse that marks all of the Lord’s banners. As he enters the Lord’s study, it is clear he is burdened by some heavy weight, his hands clasped together, his lips pursed.

“It’s been customary for many years for us to help any young knight seeking assistance on the Proving. Your father was kind enough to assist my own son on his Proving,” Lord Hakuba says.

Shinichi bows.

“My son…he’s gone missing. Since before the dragon’s return. I know the dragon is your priority right now, but if you can, _please_. Find my son.” His voice breaks, and even without the sight of the stern lord falling to pieces in front of him, Shinichi would have done so.

Shinichi bows again. “My Lord, if it is within my power to do it, I certainly will.”

They discuss details, and Shinichi rides out before dawn breaks, much on his mind. As he leaves the lands of the Lord, his destrier rears. Shin rarely startles so, but Shinichi is a deft horseman, and so he grabs the reins and changes direction just in time to prevent the wild horse from striking Shin with his hooves.

A white stallion stands before Shinichi in all his majesty, blue eyes wide and wild and bloodshot. His long blond mane and tail trail the ground, and he shines ethereal in the light. He lets out a whinny that sounds more like a bloodcurdling scream.

Shinichi tries to navigate around him, but the horse cuts him off at every point, trying to unseat him, moving his head from side to side and attacking with his hooves. But it’s odd. The attacks don’t seem to be directed at Shinichi, just at his horse, and while the attacks could be deadly if they ever hit them, they never do. The wild horse seems to be solely concerned with unseating Shinichi. But he's too good of a horseman for that.

It is with some regret that Shinichi draws his sword Jin and swings at the mad thing, but even that doesn’t stop the beast from attacking Shin. Concerned for his horse, Shinichi dismounts, and his suspicions prove true; the horse immediately stops attacking Shin, instead heading for Shinichi himself. Shinichi prepares for battle just in case, but instead the horse comes to a stop before him, pawing at the ground, tossing his head.

Shinichi makes a move to return to Shin, but the horse snorts and cuts between them, stomping at the ground like he would a snake.

“All right, fine then,” he says slowly. “Just want to get my bags and things. You will let me put a bridle on you?”

The horse shoots him a flat look. “You know I’m going to go fight a dragon, right?”

The white horse goes up to Shin and tugs gently at the saddlebags.

That…is exactly what it wants. To go with him. Shinichi lets out a breath. It must be something rising to Lord Hakuba’s request, some kind of familial horse spirit, as wild and unpredictable as the wind.

“I guess I’ll call you Kaze,” he says with that in mind.

The horse shoots him another flat look.

“Well, what else am I supposed to call you?” Shinichi says. The horse lets out a soft neigh that sounds almost like a sigh, but other than that, there’s no answer, so Shinichi moves to saddle the horse. Kaze eyes the bridle nervously, but being as how it doesn’t have even a rope bit, he lets him put it on him.

Before he leaves, Shinichi hugs Shin, pressing soft kisses to his muzzle, ripping the emblem from his caped hood onto the horse’s tack. “You know how to make it home, don’t you?” he says, letting out a hi-ya and slapping him on his rump to make him break into a run.

He watches him go with no small amount of nerves. Shin had been his only companion, a dear friend, and should Kaze prove to be as unruly as his namesake, Shinichi will be in a fair amount of trouble.

Luckily, he seems to take Shinichi’s guidance even as spirited as he is. So Shinichi teaches and learns with him as they ride. Kaze moves like a trained war horse, only there are odd hesitations occasionally, almost as if he knows the work but is unused to actual performance. Still, a day later they are moving smoothly together, ready for battle. Kaze eats the distance at speeds three times faster than Shin; if he wasn’t the size of a war horse, Shinichi thinks he would have been bred as a courser instead. Well, not that he can say either way, considering he thinks Kaze may be the avatar of the Divine Wind itself.

Shinichi takes to talking to him. Much like Shin, Kaze proves to be a good listener.

And then they reach the last village, the one that had been burned to the ground, still smoldering even after several moons, There are still a few people living in tents on the outskirts and Shinichi asks the grizzled half-dead village head to help him on his way, who does it in odd silence. 

But it’s odd. The books in the vast library had been adamant about the smell of sulphur surrounding a dragon attack, and there is none. Only devastation as far as the eyes can see, and the smell of burning pitch.

Kaze doesn’t shy away from the flames or startle at the cat that jumps out with a caterwaul. A truly supernatural beast.

From the burnt village, it is only a short ride to foothills. They roll like vast grassy waves, before turning rocky and jagged.

The higher in the mountains they go, the colder in gets, and it’s as the moon reaches its zenith that they see it.

Kaze sees it first, and stops at the entrance to a mountain meadow, heath covered in heather and littered with bleached white bones. It’s what catches Shinichi’s attention. The horse freezes, its ears back. It’s the first time Shinichi has ever seen the beast show fear.

Shinichi swallows. It’s at least fifty meters long, and it gleams white in the moonlight, slender but still as large as a mountain. Its wings must be a hundred meters beyond that. A gleaming jet-black mane runs down its spine. Its eyes are closed in the moonlight, his mouth could swallow a man whole, smoke billows from his nose, smelling like a furnace. His hide sparkles like a river, like it’s made of crystal, refracting the moonlight in glittering madness.

It’s sleeping on a massive mound of gold and jewels, tail twitching in his sleep.

He doesn’t have to guide Kaze; the white stallion is already creeping silently forward as Shinichi draws Jin from its scabbard. But Shinichi tugs the reins, pulls him to a stop, whispering quiet instructions for Kaze to stay here.

When he dismounts, Kaze nudges at him insistently, gripping his cape between his teeth and tugging him backwards, like he doesn’t want him to go.

But he has to. His armor ensures he’ll be safe from flame or blood, and so help him, he’s already grown attached to the stubborn, dumb beast and doesn’t want him to get hurt. Shinichi dons his helm, gives Kaze a pat on the neck, and moves on.

Shinichi’s heart leaps into his throat as he approaches, his pulse thundering in his ears. He raises Jin, determined to aim for the soft flesh of his eye and end him in one blow

An enormous eye flies open before Shinichi can strike. Deep blue, with a slitted pupil and a double eyelid. The dragon growls, showing gleaming, dripping teeth, and it snaps at him, only missing because Shinichi loses his footing on the treasure. He lands on one knee, sword in hand, but before he can stand back up it knocks Shinichi over; he falls back, sword knocked across the clearing, claws as long as a blade piercing the ground on each side of him, half a meter deep, pinning him to the ground. His helm falls off, he hits the back of his head hard, closing his eyes from the pain. Shinichi scrabbles for the packet Lady Haibara gave him, but he can’t find it. He waits for his end to come.

It doesn’t. He chances to open his eyes. The dragon is staring at him intently.

The dragon extracts its claws from the ground and picks him up with one paw, claws pinning his arms and legs and making escape impossible. It brings Shinichi to eye level. On any sapient being, Shinichi would classify the look as considering. The dragon opens its mouth and Shinichi flinches, expecting to be eaten.

But it just bumps his nose against Shinichi’s chest. Shinichi blinks in shock. What?

The dragon is nuzzling him. _Nuzzling_. If it can even be called that when its teeth are practically the size of his head. It makes a deep huffing noise, nearly a whine but for its size. It even takes care that its smoke doesn’t overwhelm Shinichi. It still keeps his grip tight on him though, and it kind of hurts in full plate.

“I won't—” he stops, voice faltering. The dragon looks at him curiously, tilting its head. “I won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt me,” he says. It looks at him still. “This I vow,” he swears.

It makes another huff like an agreement. The dragon opens his claws, Shinichi still at nose level, and Shinichi sits up, breathing easier.

“He was trying to kill you, you know!” a female voice sounds out from behind the bulk of the dragon. So help him, Shinichi thinks the dragon shrugs. Then its tail whips out, and Shinichi can’t help but flinch again, though he would never admit it, expecting another attack. But the tail only comes back around with a woman around his age lifted up next to him, straddling its tail like it’s nothing. She’s in a ragged white dress singed and torn at the bottom, no underskirts, and her hair is a long tangled mess. She’s surprisingly clean, though, despite the state of her clothing.

But Shinichi recognizes her. “Your Royal Highness?” he asks, attempting to straighten his disheveled armor and bow properly to show her the correct deference, but it’s hard in a dragon’s paw. He averts his eyes because what she’s wearing may as well be underclothing.

She narrows her eyes at him. “Not here I’m not.” She turns her attention back to the dragon, rising smoothly to her feet. The dragon keeps its tail steady. “Seriously! What if he killed you?” she says, hands on her hips. It reminds him of Ran’s own scolding.

The dragon opens its mouth, lets a thick cloud of smoke waft into her face.

“Don’t do that to me, Bakai—idiot!” She kicks its nose. The dragon doesn’t even flinch. “You didn’t have a problem killing all the other knights coming to “rescue” me! What’s so special about him?”

As if in answer, the dragon brings its paw with Shinichi closer to its tail, letting out a soft series of noises, nudging its hand closer to her as if to say, ‘See? Just look at him!’

Princess Aoko answers it as if it has spoken. “Yes, I’m aware he’s attractive, but really?”

The dragon grumbles something, its deep voice reverberating.

“No way. You _cannot_ be serious.”

The dragon huffs, then lets out a guttural sound that’s a little louder, vibrating the clearing around them. It’s like they’re honest-to-god having a conversation.

“That’s him?” Princess Aoko says skeptically, and Shinichi can’t help but be a little insulted. “He’s the one?”

Then Kaze steps forward, letting out a soft neigh, and both the dragon and the princess turn to look at him. The dragon growls again, spooking Kaze, and Princess Aoko bops it on the nose again. “Don’t be like that. Your horse friend is welcome too. What’s his name?”

Shinichi blinks. “Kaze,” he says. The dragon and the princess look at each other. She bursts into laughter while the dragon rumbles in an irregular pattern, sounding almost like laughter itself.

“A noble steed for a fine knight,” Princess Aoko says through her laughter.

Kaze stomps the ground and snorts. “Yeah, yeah,” Aoko says. She snaps her fingers to get the dragon’s attention, then she makes a gesture towards the ground. It puts both Shinichi and Aoko on the ground, and Kaze canters up to her, nuzzling her. The dragon doesn’t appear to like it, putting a tail between the two, and then it and the horse stare at one another. Shinichi has never seen an equine with such a flat look, nor one that would be so calm close to a great beast. Him being a wind spirit is looking more and more likely.

“Your Royal Highness?” Shinichi says.

“If I hear that again, I’ll scream. Call me Aoko-chan. Royal decree or whatever.”

“Tales of your abduction have been greatly exaggerated?” Shinichi says dryly.

“Something like that. Feel free to think of Aoko as a spoiled princess all you want, the truth is a hell of a lot more complicated than that.”

“I haven’t heard of any other knights coming to rescue you,” Shinichi says slowly. “I’m the first.”

“Yeah, and I bet you also haven’t heard how they’re the ones starting the fires they’re blaming on my best friend. Who are you and where are you from?” she demands.

“'Best friend?‘” Shinichi wonders.

“Yeah. He’s been my guardian and protector since I was an infant,” Aoko says, patting him on the forearm.

“The missive from Ekoda didn’t say that.”

“It wouldn’t have. I’m the one supposed to be asking the questions. Give me your House, Knight,” she says in the most imperious tone Shinichi thinks he has ever heard from anyone. But being the son of a Baron, he must defer to her and do honor by his house, however much he doesn’t like it.

Shinichi straightens. “Shinichi of clan Kudō from Beika.”

“Why are you here?”

“My Proving. I’m to slay the dragon,” it lets out a wounded noise, jerking its attention from its stare down with Kaze, “and take you back.”

Aoko just frowns. “Kudō Shinichi from Beika, are you aware of the assassination attempts on my life?”

“No,” Shinichi says. Things are starting to form a picture Shinichi doesn’t like.

“Well, I have a new charge for you. I want you to find those responsible for tarnishing the good name of my friend.” She walks over to the dragon and rubs its forearm. “Do that, and you’ll pass your Proving. Ekoda will owe the House of Kudō great Debt.”

Shinichi wants to tell her she’s not his princess and therefore can’t order him around, but the fact of the matter is, he’s felt somewhat suspicious about the situation as well. Especially since the lack of sulphur at the village. And the fact that the rumors of Princess Aoko’s abduction came right around the time Lady Haibara came to be with them, the fact she gave him something mysterious, the disappearance of the King’s daughter, his supposed descent into madness…

No, something isn’t right. It could have significant impact on his kingdom as well, so he couldn’t live with himself if something happened. Also, Shinichi thinks as he looks at the way the dragon curls around the princess, how easily she interacts with it, the fact she’s shown no sign of the mind magics…

“I accept,” he says, fully aware she’d said Kudō specifically, not Beika. A personal debt.

“Good.” Aoko leads him to furnished cave where he can place his things. There’s a hot springs inside, and it’s actually rather extravagant. The cave entrance is large enough for the dragon to get most of its head and neck and a bit of its upper body inside, and he does, Aoko fussing at him the entire time about his overprotectiveness.

Shinichi lays down that night outside on a thin mattress spread across solid gold, trapped up against its forearm like he’s a stuffed doll, nuzzled and snuggled against. The spread of the dragon’s wing blocks the moonlight, and actually makes for a comfortable lean-to.

Not that he’d admit it.

This is Shinichi’s life now. A slave to the whims of a princess and a dragon. Only the princess isn’t so demanding or unreasonable. How many times had Shinichi wished to get out of his duties? To spend time with his fellow knights or read in the library instead of attending courtly functions?

And it’s almost strange how gentle the dragon is being with him, how it was the one pleading with the princess to keep Shinichi alive, not the other way around.

“Aoko-chan?” he says to the darkness.

“Hmm?” she says sleepily from the great beast’s other side.

“I won’t make you go back.”

“Oh, good,” she murmurs sleepily. “I don’t want to die.”

The next day Shinichi is up before the sun to train. He can’t depend entirely on what Aoko has told him; he needs to survey the area.

As he finishes his array of sword movements, he feels eyes on him. Shinichi turns to find the dragon watching him with bright blue eyes.

If it was sparkling at night, the early morning light makes him _gleam_ like the jewels it makes its bed on. It’s kind of pretty.

Aoko passes by with a bowl made from porcelain, dainty and definitely not something he is expecting out here. Once a princess, always a princess, it seems.

“What is it doing?” he asks her. The dragon hangs its head a little, circling around and lying down in a huff.

“You called him it. He doesn’t like it. You should really call him he.”

“Fine,” he says, annoyed. “What’s his deal with me? Why does he keep staring?”

For the first time since he’s met her, the forceful princess looks somewhat hesitant. “Do you remember him?” She asks softly. Shinichi watches the dragon’s movements. One ear twitches his way.

“Remember? Why would I remember a dragon?” The ear goes back, the tail starts twitching back and forth as the dragon rolls over on his bed of jewels. “They’re supposed to be extinct.”

“Ah. When you do, then I might tell you,” Aoko says.

Just what is Shinichi supposed to remember?

Later that day, he and Kaze survey the township from the cliff. Before Shinichi takes more than the note of the shape of the burn pattern, the dragon hovers by them, spooking Kaze. Shinichi dismounts, determined to give the dragon a piece of his mind when he’s picked up by his cape and placed on the dragon’s back.

Shinichi barely has time to register it before he’s holding on for dear life as the dragon lifts them high in the air.

Up up up beyond the clouds, which surprise him with their damp as they fly through. The dragon flies for a long time before settling down in another clearing, putting Shinichi down and using his tail to keep him behind him. Once he does, he takes a great heaving breath and releases a huge jet of flame. It’s bright blue, almost like his eyes. The heat is intense. After it has burned for a bit and started dying on its own, the dragon takes his tail and beats the fire out, smothering it with the water of the pond next to him. There is the smell of brimstone.

Then the dragon turns to him, looking at him expectantly as if to say, ‘See? Not me.'”

“I agree,” Shinichi says. “You didn’t burn the village. Coupled with the smell, it’s like some substance was used, huh?” Shinichi asks.

The dragon nods, wrinkling its nose.

The dragon bumps him again with his nose, nuzzling him, nearly knocking Shinichi over. Then he picks Shinichi up again, depositing him once again on his back. Even the story from above tells the same truth; the flames of the dragon span out in a V pattern from the source, a far cry from the pattern of the burns around the village, which are circular. And still burning. Even before the dragon beat it out, the flames had already started to die.

Shinichi has a lot to think about as they fly back toward the mountain meadow. Just who was doing it? And why blame it on a dragon? What purpose would it serve to kill him? The assassination of Princess Aoko and her family?

Someone somewhere is looking to benefit. Shinichi wants to know why. A dragon is a formidable foe. He and the dragon were almost manipulated into killing one another, but given his family is known for dragon slaying, and given his protectiveness of Princess Aoko, Shinichi bets someone wants the dragon gone. Shinichi could have killed an innocent.  

He has to find the real culprit, and soon. 

 


End file.
